This article was originally published in the March 2024 edition of Héma-Québec’s Magazine. All issues of the Magazine are available here.

The Public Mothers' Milk Bank celebrates 10 years and going strong

Héma-Québec’s Public Mothers’ Milk Bank (PMMB) turned 10 and continues to grow and build upon its solid foundation. In its first decade, the PMMB faced a number of challenges, including recruiting new donors to ensure a consistent supply, optimizing the donation process and refining its testing techniques for donated milk.

“I think that the PMMB has really hit its stride now,” says Dr. Christian Renaud, Medical Director, Microbiology and Epidemiology for Héma-Québec and a pediatric infectious disease specialist and microbiologist at the Centre hospitalier universitaire Sainte-Justine. “We have an excellent system in place and all the variables under control. Now, it’s time to focus on what we can improve and how new approaches and technology can take us to the next level.”

The story behind the PMMB

Launched in early 2014 and run by Héma-Québec, the PMMB exists to ensure that neonatal units in Québec hospitals have an adequate supply of mother’s milk—a valuable resource used to maximize the chances that premature babies born at or before 32 weeks can grow up healthy. A few millilitres of mother’s milk helps to protect the digestive system and seriously reduces a baby’s likelihood of developing necrotizing enterocolitis, an intestinal disease that affects 6% of premature babies.

Some mothers of preemies are unable to express their own milk. That is why it is so important to get enough donations from mothers who produce more milk than their children need. Donors can store up milk in their freezer until they are ready to donate.

In major urban areas, Héma-Québec takes care of picking up the donations; however, in other areas, donors must drop them off themselves at a donor centre in their region. Before starting the donation process, potential donors must first fill out a questionnaire and provide a blood sample to confirm their eligibility. Thanks to all of its generous donors, Héma-Québec is able to collect the 4,000 litres or so of milk it needs to meet the demand of Québec’s hospitals each year.

Looking forward

As the PMMB enters its second decade, Héma-Québec’s teams continue to explore new avenues for improving upon its operations and performance. As the medical director of the strategic planning committee, Dr. Renaud assesses need and reviews scientific breakthroughs to identify potential modifications and initiatives to implement.

“One of the things we are actively working on is ensuring the quality of the milk we provide babies,” he says. “As it currently stands, we perform regular testing to assess the milk’s nutritional value, which can vary from donor to donor, and even from donation to donation. We are looking into the feasibility of testing each sample, which would increase the preventive potential of all our work. Our pasteurization process requires heating the milk, which eliminates some nutrients. New pasteurization techniques are starting to be used elsewhere that we may be able to draw upon.”

Héma-Québec is also seeking to improve the donor experience by simplifying different steps of the process. Donors can fill out a survey to give feedback on what they feel is working well or less well. Héma-Québec is also looking at expanding the donation eligibility period, which currently ends one year after childbirth.

Striking the right balance between the actual need for donations and the number of donations to seek out continues to be one of the greatest challenges. Unfortunately, it’s not an exact science—many variables can throw off our delicate equation.

“I believe we’ve made incredible progress over the years and found an approach that works,” says Dr. Renaud. “I encourage all new parents to keep helping us by donating their time and their milk. This act of generosity is life-changing for so many families!”